Now re: telecoms - this is a whole second issue. There are single providers in a lot of areas, for a bunch of reasons (PITA to deploy to rural places, municipal agreements limiting telecom deployment to a single provider, etc.). That is more “infrastructure” like, ergo, what most people would say is more deserving of being run by government, or IMO, by NGO non-profits/cooperatives. I know firsthand the BS Comcast pulls with jacking up their prices to $200/mo or whatever when they can get away with it.

Here’s your paragraph:

1. pretend that they’re isolated in their market behavior because of some innate peculiarity in this market

2. apologize for the difficulties of being a telecom provider, and pretend that exclusivity in localities isn’t something they directly lobbied for (i.e. corrupted the local government for)

3. “most people say this is the government’s job” most people? Ok. Is that what you’re saying?

4. I too am getting fucked by Comcast… Ok? Great.

It’s not just telecommunications companies that have these problems. Do a depth analysis on other market segments. Everywhere you look in the US economy there’s an orgy of monopolistic or duopolistic markets, cartels, price gougers, government corruption, endless corporate acquisitions, and every other type of anticompetitive behavior.